Angel's Kitchen

It's a quaint fine-dining restaurant located along Connecticut Street in Greenhills. The ambience is cool to the eyes, with the food great as well. The crowd seemed to be from the high-end, which should've made us prepared for what our total bill would be.

I ordered the Pakbet Rice with Lechon Kawali......ANG SARAP! The missus ordered fish and Owa ordered the beef roast ---both good as well.

The drawback of this place is that it's expensive. Dinners with the missus and Owa never reached P1,700++ but this one did.

But I'll definitely come back for the Pakbet Rice with Lechon Kawali anytime!

Fabulous Finds: Bagoong Club Resto

"Bagoong Club tayo."

I couldn't believe my ears. It was the missus uttering those 3 beautiful words that I've longed to hear for quite some time now. We had ran out of places to eat at the Tomas Morato area on our Saturday dinner after Mass when she finally decided to give us an opportunity to try Bagoong Club Resto just off Tomas Morato.

"Baka naman puro bagoong dyan!" she would say whenever we passed by the place. I was really intrigued to eat there especially when my officemate, GP, had already been there to try and made nice comments about the place. It made me want to eat there more. "Someday, I'm going to eat there," I said. Who would've known that two Saturdays ago, that would be the day.

Bagoong Club Resto didn't disappoint. We ordered the Seafood Binacol, Kalderetang Baka and Dila, and Lechon Sisig ----ang sarrrrap!

The menu is all local food but slightly different. It's like Gerry's or Dencio's with a twist.

You got to try it!

Fabulous Finds: Las Paellas Cafe

The missus and I visited the newly-opened Las Paellas Café Robinson’s Galleria branch for lunch last week. We just ordered the onion soup and the Paella Valenciana. The waiter had forewarned us that the Paella will take 30-40mins cooking time but we still wanted to try it. After 30 or so minutes, it finally came.

We found it to be very delicious. So delectable in fact that the whole serving was just enough for me and my missus’ hungry stomachs. We’d always pass by Las Paellas in Tomas Morato but never really go there regularly. After last week’s lunch, I think this resto will become part of our regular weekend eating rotations.

Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen

Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen is a quaint resto located inside BF Homes, Paranaque City. I found this place by accident while I was browsing clickthecity.com some weeks back. From the reviews there, it was definitely a must-eat place to be so we grabbed the chance last Sunday afternoon when my boy was staying at my parents' place in Paranaque.

The place is quite nice and quaint since it was considerate of having a smoking and non-smoking section and a small area for kids to play with which includes a small blackboard and a three-row open cabinet of toys.

At the very end of the Chi's is a brickstone oven which is slightly elevated from the patron tables.

And now for the food. We started off with the Clam Chowder (P100) which was housed inside a big pandesal. It had a cheesy flavor to it pero bitin, considering that the missus and I shared one soup. Nevertheless, it tasted good.

Since it was a late-lunch, early-merienda, we only ordered the Chicken Calzone. THIS was very delicious, with every molecule of the melted mozzarella cheese savored gently with the calzone crust.

We capped off our stay with White Chocolate Strawberry Madness. This was delectably sumptous as well.

Chi's is definitely a great find.

Chateau 1771

The missus and I were at GB5 the other week and decided to have dinner at Chateau. The acoustic guitar player was inviting and since we've already eaten at Myron's previously, we decided to step into Chateau.

We were given the complementary bread and eggplant-pate, which was quite good. Then for starters we ordered the tomato soup, which was quite nice.

For the main course, the missus ordered Pork Scallopine (P420), one of the house specialties. It was a delightful dish.

In keeping with my tradition of ordering fish in fine-dining restos, I ordered the Salmon Rockefeller (P670). The cheese-topped salmon was delectably delicious, especially with the ratatouille and white wine.

Chateau 1771, all in all, was not bad. Finding a great fine-dining resto in the Greenbelt/Glorietta area is rare so Chateau should be a good place to check out if you want to try fine-dining if you're in the Makati area.

Fabulous Finds: In-Yo Fusion Restaurant

This was indeed a great find! Nothing beats the romantic, quiant venue coupled with great food located in the Katipunan area. We ordered the pumpkin soup for starters. Afterwhich, we were given kalamansi sherbet to prepare our tastebuds with the upcoming entrees. And the main course did not disappoint. The missus ordered the US Hanging Tender Steak while I ordered the Smoked Local Halibut.

We capped off the evening with coffee and Trio of Creme Brulee (Original, Espresso, and Chocolate) for dessert.

Highly recommended.

Fabulous Finds: Cafe Ysabel

"Soooo san tayo kakaen?" the missus asked.

"Basta ako bahala." I replied.

It was our 4th year wedding anniversary last Thursday. I was running out of excuses that day since the missus was 99% certain that I was taking her to Cafe Ysabel. When she guessed it, I just gave out a hard laugh and said, "Mali! So stop guessing until we're there sa kakainan naten."

Of course, I knew that she was 100% right but to keep her in suspense, I had to keep her guessing.

The trip from the office to Cafe Ysabel in P. Guevarra Street in San Juan was not far. So when we parked up front the resto, I had to reveal to the missus that she was right after all. Well, I still get credit for the good acting skill of telling her she was wrong earlier that day.

Inside Cafe Ysabel, the setup looked purposely old which was somehow the theme. The waiters were well-versed with the menu which was a good sign.

So, we proceeded to order. But then two chef-trainees walked to our table presenting a complementary appetizer, with one of the ladies seemed nervously describing their latest food project. Surprisingly, the lady was Ms. Judy Ann Santos.

"It's part of their apprenticeship, sir." the waiter said.

Well, it's good to know that the Asian Cuisine Cooking school downstairs of the restaurant is doing a good job to Ms. Judy Ann for the appetizer she gave us was quite ok.

So on with our orders.

We started with the Bilbao Style Chorizo with Roasted Peppers and Balsamic Glaze which was quite nice. Then, Lobster Crustacean Bisque for our soup (great as well).

For the main course, the missus ordered Chateaubriand which tasted like beef tenderloin with fettucini while I got the Halibut Amandine which is a Chilean fish neatly topped with finely slivered almonds and leek sauce. Since I was going to eat fish and it was anyway our anniversary, I took the liberty of ordering a glass of the house's white wine.

The missus wanted as well so to match her beef, she ordered red wine.

I just have to say that the Halibut Amandine is heavenly delicious, especially when followed by a sip of white wine. RAPSA!

The Chateaubriand was well, ok lang naman.

For dessert, we ordered Crepes Ysabel which was the house's version of crepe. I found it to be ok as well.

Dining at Cafe Ysabel is an amazing experience all by itself. A laid-back setting coupled with good food, I highly recommend it.

Fabulous Finds: Banana Leaf

Having worked ni Malaysia for 3 1/2 years, I opted to stay away from eating at Banana Leaf. The point was that I've been eating Malay cuisine during my stay there so it's just redundant to eat at Banana Leaf.

We wanted to eat at Recipes Greenbelt last Sunday but it was under construction. Well, since it has been a long while since I've gone to Malaysia, I guess now is a good time to try Banana Leaf.

And a good time it was! The Malay/Thai cuisine was authentic. The mee goreng and prata tasted equally well as that in KL. The missus and my boy's tastebuds agreed as well.

Good food if you want to venture into Malay/Thai cuisine.

Fabulous Finds: Old Swiss Inn

The missus and I just had dinner at the Old Swiss Inn Makati which is located at the Somerset Residences next to the Atrium building. The ambience was quite quaint, with the waiters wearing chaleko(?) and hat to try to fit to the Swiss feel.

For starters we ordered the Goulash Soup which was peppery good! Kung pwede nga yun na lang orderin ko plus a cup of plain rice, ok na! Hehe.

For the main course, the missus ordered Zurich Geschnetzeltes (can you say that 3 times?) while I ordered the Darne of Salmon since I had pork for breakfast and lunch earlier.

The Zurich was very good while the salmon was so-so. Maybe IF we come back, we'll try the fondue that the missus encouraged me to try.

Ok-ok lang.